One needs all kinds of cinema to survive: Emraan Hashmi

CNBC-TV18’s Anuradha SenGupta talks to Emraan Hashmi, one of Hindi cinemas most bankable stars, about his upcoming releases and his decade long journey in Bollywood.

Below is the edited transcript of his interview to CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying videos. Q: On your previous comment of being at par with Khans in terms of earnings?
A: Once a journalist asked me about the Khans touching the magical three digit number, the Rs 100-crore mark. To which I replied, the Khan’s have started off in 80’s and they have a bankable audience base for the last 20 years and I have been around for last seven years, give me 3-4 years and I will be on par with them. Q: Is the film industry use to this type of bold and confident statement?
A: That is what you aspire for, you have to see and project yourself as a brand. To have a very long stand in this industry, one must have self confidence and of course there is competition. At the end of the day it is the number game, people judge you with box office numbers than acting credentials. For the first three years, my films chose me, I didn’t choose my films. I took some time to understand the trade.
I reached a saturation point in my career where I was doing stuff that was given to me and I don’t think I could be blamed for that because my films were working well and the trade doesn’t want you to change, they want to box you up in that. Q: Why fix something that ain’t broke?
A: Yes, and then suddenly a film maker comes along and makes something drastically different which is perceivably a risk for you but then it does well and then that’s when things change. Q: When you started out the films were choosing you, today you are choosing the films?
A: People have seen potential and they have realised that something new can be worked out with me. Earlier, only erotica and thrills were key components. Q: Was ‘Once Upon a Time in Mumbai’ a turning point for you?
A: It was. In my career a lot of landmark films have changed things around for me. There was a film that was actually supposed to be a turning point in my career but didn’t do very well. Q: Which was that movie?
A: It was Awarapan, which was suppose to change my image from a serial kisser and on screen sexuality but unfortunately that film didn’t work well at the box office. Q: Mahesh Bhatt who is your uncle and mentor said don’t do it and then later on said I am glad you did it. Why did you choose that film and how did that end up being the turning point for you?
A: I like challenging peoples’ perception towards things. Even my image which was created earlier was breaking some perception that this is not our culture. I was seen as a guy who was contaminating our culture. When someone tells me not to do something I want to do it. Q:  I hope your two-year old son is not listening to this?
A: It’s actually good to rebel. That is when you can bring about change. Why Bhatt Saheb told me not to do the film, because people in the industry think in a certain formulaic way and it was a film that was about a gangsters and my character was someone who had been demonised, the PR around the film and is about a real life gangsters and Bhatt Saheb just felt that there won’t be any redemption because he is at the end of the day a really bad guy. But, I felt different about this film. It was a gangster flick with a love story. They are real people but you always had gangster films that have been dark, they lack great music. I said yes to the film after listening three lines. Q: You are good in two kind of films; one is where you are the lead star and the only star with a co-star who is a female and you deliver big successes and then on the other hand there are films where you just play a part nevertheless of a whole cast of character. What makes you happier?
A: Both have a role in my life; one needs all kinds of cinema to survive because if you only do one kind of cinema then it reaches a saturation point of your career. But for an actor at least for me I am extremely selfish, I would like to see my self for the entire two hours on screen, I like to do a solo film. I do those, they are successful but you cannot say no to ‘The Dirty Picture’. You do think that yes, you are probably not the protagonist in the film but another thought crosses your mind and says that if I leave this I just be letting go off a great film. Q: You are a pivotal character, so it’s not as if you are not playing important character?
A: Some actors only look at playing protagonists in films, according to me that’s extremely myopic and self-indulgent to a certain point. I am self-indulgent. Q: You cannot be an actor if you are not, there has to be some element of narcissism, isn’t it if you are an actor?
A: I think that also plays out in a film like ‘The Dirty Picture’ because it’s a new kind of relationship on screen that’s what drew me to the film. So, out of self-indulgence I still wanted to do that because I wanted to be the first person to play hate relationship on screen which was so new.